No Shmitta-More Problems

The Gemara in קידושין further elaborates on the danger of not following the Shmitta laws. Such a transgression sets off a chain reaction of declining events. The outcome of such behavior is hinted to in the order of cases brought in פרשת בהר. If one doesn’t keep Shmitta, he will be forced to sell his מטלטלים, movable objects. If he doesn’t realize the cause for such a sale, he will be forced to sell his fields. The Torah spoke of one impoverished, because he sold his possessions. It them speaks about one forced to sell his home in a walled city. His poverty is so bad that he cannot support his young daughter and is forced to sell her as a Hebrew maidservant, אמה עבריה, in the hope that her master will provide for her and marry her off to his son. The final humiliation comes when he sells himself as an עבד עברי, hired hand. And he may only find a גר תושב, resident stranger, who is not Jewish, who is willing to purchase him. All of these misfortunes began by not observing Shmitta. Perhaps we should see this as a warning that we must put our faith in Hashem especially when it affects money and our livelihood.